Regency Dish: Cider

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To make Cyder to keep all the Year Take as many pippins pearmains and genitings as you intend to make cyder and let them be pulled when they are so ripe as to be ready for pulling Let them be bruised as small as posible and when they are reduced to a mash let them be put into a hair bag and squeezed gently till the whole of the juice is extracted out then pour the liquor into a caík well seasoned and aired with a rag dipped in brimstone and lighted put to it a little boiling water three whites of eggs and a pound of honey then put to it a little yeast and lec it work five or fix days When it has purged itself of all impurities let it be drawn off into another calk and when it has stood a week let it be bottled up When you bottle it leave about an inch not filled up next
next the cork left the bottle should burst or the cork fly and if you happen to hear the air bursting through the porous parts of the corks take them out for a few minutes and then they may be put in with safety In the summer let the bottles be placed in as cold a part of the cellar as you can find but in winter they must be covered over with straw and if the cyder should happen to grow sour put to it a little loaf sugar The Ladies Best Companion, 1800

Herefordshire has a historic “Cider Trail” you can follow and learn the history of cider in the UK.  One interesting tidbit this post shares is that historically agricultural workers were given a daily allowance of cider (about a half gallon) as part of their wage.

Cider was so important in the UK, a 1676 treatise was written on the process of apple cider and cider in general.

Traditionally, UK has been the biggest consumer of cider.  Most commonly it has been fermented apple juice, and this delightful recipe calls for three common apple varieties.

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